Dirty Little Secret
by siriusondrun
Summary: Shigure gives Akito a present that she scoffs at. But what does she really think about it? ShigureAkito, postmanga, so SPOILERS lay ahead.


Disclaimer: Fruits Basket is (c) and property of Natsuki Takaya-sensei. I just borrowed Akito and Shigure for a few pages. "Dirty Little Secret" is a song by The All-American Rejects, which doesn't belong to me either.

Dirty Little Secret

Akito Sohma lounged on her porch, somehow managing to enjoy the day despite its obnoxious insistence on being bright and sunny. It was almost a relief to be bored, without distractions or troubles in the form of her lover Shigure. Akito pursed her lips at the thought of the grinning idiot dog, sighing fiercely and tugging on her yukata to pull it tighter around her spindly form. Shigure hadn't been by in a while and even though his visits often did nothing for Akito other than raise her blood pressure dangerously, she found herself missing his loud company.

"Akito-san!" sang a loud, cheerful male voice from the room on the other side of the wall where Akito sat. She rolled her eyes; speak of the devil--Shigure had arrived once again to bother her.

"You look so forlorn all alone out here," Shigure added, popping his head out the door. Akito shot him a nasty look and Shigure laughed, coming out to stand beside her. "Well, aren't we testy today!" he chuckled. Akito sighed loudly, rolling her eyes and pulling her sprawling long legs under herself and away from Shigure.

"I _was_ having a good day," she replied shortly. "Past tense now."

"Oh, don't be like that," Shigure said, looking over at Akito with one of his come-hither grins that never failed to make her heart do a backflip. God_damn_ her lovesick female tendencies!

"Why are you here?" Akito asked bluntly, looking away before that grin made her blush.

"I wanted to give you a quick visit before I went away," Shigure said, tucking his arms into his yukata's oversized sleeves. Akito's chest seized momentarily at the phrase "went away" and she whipped around to stare accusingly at him. Shigure laughed gently and reached out a hand to stroke her hair. "I'm leaving town on a book tour, my codependent little god," he said with a teasing tone to his voice. Akito scowled and swatted his hand away, crossing her arms.

"And this is cause for you to come here?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Of course," Shigure said. "I know how much you would worry if I wasn't there should you happen to pop up out of nowhere at my house."

Akito snorted; she never visited him and scarcely had any reason to, as he did all of the footwork and visiting himself. "I'm sure I could manage," she said dryly.

"Hmm," Shigure murmured with a smirk. "That's not the only reason I came by, however."

"Come to annoy me until I drop dead from boredom as well?" Akito asked.

"No, my venomous little camellia blossom," Shigure replied with the tone of someone using a treasured pet name, disappearing back into the house. He re-emerged after a long pause, hiding something behind his back and looking positively gleeful about it. Akito gazed up at him, face drawn into a long-suffering scowl and arms still crossed.

"And what, pray-tell, are you so overjoyed about?" she asked.

"I brought you something," Shigure said with a grin. "A present, for in case you get lonely while I'm gone."

Akito rolled her eyes. "As I said, I'm sure I can manage," she said coolly.

"Aww, you spoil my fun," Shigure said in a mock-upset voice. He sighed heavily and hung his head. "Well, I guess I'll just have to return this little guy, since you obviously don't want him..." He produced a large wire birdcage from behind his back dramatically, pointing to the contents. Inside sat a fat butter-colored canary on a swing, looking a little alarmed at being presented with such flourish.

Akito, once again cursing her girlish tendencies, fought back a gasp of joy at the sight of the tiny bird, rolling over onto her knees to inspect it. Shigure knew her one weakness when it came to animals were birds, particularly those that sang, and holding a canary in front of her was like dangling a steak in front of a starving person. She shrugged appraisingly, not looking up, and sat back on her heels. "It's nice-looking," she conceded apathetically.

"Well, I heard that you were in need of a new companion," Shigure said, glancing surreptitiously out into the garden at the small mound of turned earth under which Akito's last bird now lay, "so I thought perhaps in replacement of my shining company you could have bitter, sarcastic fights with little Shii-chan here."

"Shii-chan?" Akito snorted. "You're actually arrogant enough to think that just because you gave it to me I'd name it after you?"

"Oh, but Akito, he already knows that's his name!" Shigure said grandly, lifting the cage up to his face. "Ohayo, Shii-chan!" he trilled at the bird. The canary let loose a musical thread of chirps and tweets, the sound making Akito grow even more attached to the silly creature by the moment. She had to admit, for something Shigure had though of, this was rather thoughtful.

"See?" Shigure said, setting the cage down on the porch while the bird continued to sing happily. "He thinks it's a good name."

"Hmph," Akito snorted. "I'd prefer to just call it 'Canary.' I suppose I can keep it around until you get back, anyway," she said calmly, waving a hand. "Knowing your household it would be forgotten and starve to death before you returned."

Shigure smiled one of his heart-palpitating smiles again and all of a sudden lifted Akito to her feet with one hand, gentle even as he was being forceful with her. He pulled her in close to his chest and Akito struggled to not blush.

"You're welcome, Akito-san," Shigure murmured, leaning down and pressing his lips to hers.

Akito melted beneath his kiss, fighting the urge to have one of her feet lift up off the ground as she leaned on Shigure and kissed him back. Despite all of their disagreements and disloyalties over the years, the truth remained: Akito, deep within what little heart she had regained, loved Shigure with every ounce of her being and somehow she knew Shigure loved her even more.

Shigure pulled back from the kiss and leaned in next to Akito's ear. "You're very, very welcome," he whispered lecherously. Akito scowled, feeling her cheeks going a bit pink, and gave him a none-too-gentle elbow in the ribs, stalking away and plopping back down onto the porch.

"If you're going to go, go," she said, waving a hand imperiously and turning her nose up at him. "Quit bothering me."

"Goodbye, then," Shigure said smugly, bowing a little and walking off. Akito "hmphed" at his back and leaned against the wall of her house. As if she'd be so lovesick as to miss him just because he didn't come around to bother her every other day. The nerve!

Three days later, however, it seemed that this was indeed the case, as Akito found herself glancing at the door whenever she heard a noise, wondering if Shigure might have come back and getting annoyed when it was merely the house settling or a servant entering or exiting. She sighed angrily at herself, getting up from the porch and striding indoors to the low table where she was keeping the canary he had delivered before leaving. The bird hadn't sang very much after Shigure had left that day, much to Akito's annoyance, but it was entertaining to watch anyway. Akito sat down in front of the table, leaning her chin on her crossed arms and sighing. She was loathe to admit it, but time spent without Shigure wasn't as relaxing as she was expecting it to be and she was beginning to crave his mindless, annoying conversation, his irritatingly perverse humor, his idiotic, rakish smirk, his sweet, unexpected kisses...

Akito jumped out of a reverie about the feeling of Shigure's hard body against her own, her cheeks blazing hot, and realized the canary was staring at her. She stared back and found herself almost smiling. No matter how stupid Shigure made himself seem on a daily basis, he could be incredibly insightful sometimes, especially when it came to her. She opened the cage door and slowly extended her hand towards the bird. At once it jumped onto her skinny finger and gave it a peck, as if testing if it were food or not, and then tweeted inquisitively at her. Akito leaned back on the heel of her other hand and lifted the bird in front of her face, a definite smile drifting over her thin features.

"Ohayo, Shii-chan," she whispered.

_I'll keep you, my dirty little secret..._


End file.
